Live discussion: Islam and social enterprise, 5 February, 12-1pm

In a recent article social entrepreneur Sheeza Ahmad highlighted how the Qur'an's teachings around Islamic finance fall in line with the modern day social enterprise movement.

Sheeza wrote: "Muhammad's teachings and examples of business dealings were strongly linked to humanitarian values where the poor, the sick and orphans took precedence. He acknowledged the suffering of people in surrounding environments and continually created solutions for them while creating a system that would ensure their care long after his passing."

These ideas raise the question of whether Islamic business can play a significant role in shaping more ethical business practices and even a more ethical and sustainable capitalism.

With this in mind, join our expert panel to discuss, the relationship between Islamic business practices, the social enterprise movement and the future of business.

Do get in touch if you'd like to be a panellist – email Joe Jervis for more details.

Also, if you'd like to leave a question please do so in the comments section below, or come back to ask it live – and follow the debate – on Tuesday 5 February, 12-1pm GMT.

Remember, to be on the panel and participate you need to register as a member of the Guardian social enterprise network, and log in. Click here to register.

Panel (more panelists to follow)

Sheeza Ahmad – founder, HelpingB

Sheeza is the founder of social enterprise HelpingB through which users build communities around a patient's recovery to keep them close to their loved ones; encouraging them to BWellsoon. Profits go on to fund educational projects in developing countries through BEducational – creating the social entrepreneurs of tomorrow.

Raheel Mohammed – founder, Maslaha

Raheel founded Maslaha, an organisation which seeks to empower disadvantaged communities to overcome social inequalities through education and inspiration. Through bringing together diverse voices in creative and dynamic ways, Maslaha works with these communities to demand and pursue positive change.

Murtaza Abidi – co-founder, Casserole Club

Murtaza is a human factors designer and film maker focusing on co-designing solutions to common issues in society. Murtaza co-founded CasseroleClub.com, a BBC and Times featured project which aims to tackle isolation by locally sharing food with those unable to cook. He is currently working on a youth project with a north-west London Islamic Centre.

This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. To join the social enterprise network, click here.

Muslims, police scuffle at Rye Playland over amusement park’s head scarf ban; 15 arrests made

wearing head scarves were barred from the rides, witnesses sai

Fifteen people, including three women, were charged with disorderly conduct and assault in the chaos, authorities said.

The Westchester County park was packed with Muslims celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr -  the holiday marking the end of the Islamic holy month ofRamadan.

One woman, Entisai Ali, began arguing with cops over the amusement park's head scarf, or hijab, rule, said Dena Meawad, 18, of Bay Ridge,Brooklyn.

The ban, which is not Muslim specific, was imposed about 3 years ago mostly to prevent hats from falling onto the tracks of roller coasters and other rides, park officials said.

"The cops started getting loud with her and she started getting loud, too. They pushed her on the ground and arrested her," Meawad said.

Her cousin, Kareem Meawad, 17, went to try to protect the woman and was beaten by cops and also arrested, she added. Her brother, Issam Meawad, 20, was pushed to the ground and taken into custody when he tried to help his cousin, she said.

"She just wanted to get on a ride. That was it," Dena Meawad said of the initial confrontation. "It's clear, this all happened because we're Muslim."

John Hodges, chief inspector of Westchester County Public Safety, insisted that police did not use excessive force.

He said up to 100 cops from surrounding departments converged on the park.

Two park rangers were injured in the melee, prompting felony assault charges against two people arrested, officials said.

The ugly incident happened just after 1 p.m. The event was organized by the Muslim American Society of New York, and attracted 3,000 Muslims from Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Westchester County.

Ali's sister, Ayman Alrabah, 24, of Brooklyn said her husband, brother and father were all tackled by cops and put into handcuffs when they tried to help her sister.

Alrabah said she was unaware of the head-scarf rule until she and her sister tried to get on the park's Dragon Coasters.

"We requested a refund and all of a sudden an argument became a riot," Alrabah said. "Cops came. They were hitting my brother, my dad. My husband was on the floor and they were handcuffing him.

She said her 4-year-old son was "traumatized" by seeing his father arrested.

"They treated us like animals, like we were nothing," Alrabah said. "They came with their dogs and sticks. We came to have fun."'It's clear, this all happened because we're Muslim,' says Dena Meawad. (Norman Y. Lono for NY Daily News)

The park was closed for about two hours because of the fracas. It reopened at about 6 p.m.

Peter Tartaglia, deputy commissioner of Westchester County Parks, said the Muslim American Society of New York was warned in advance of the rule barring head scarves on rides for safety reasons.

"Part of our rules and regulations, which we painstakingly told them over and over again, is that certain rides you cannot wear any sort of headgear," Tartaglia said. "It's a safety issue for us on rides, it could become a projectile."

Many Muslims were given refunds as they left the park disappointed.

"In this heightened state of Islamaphobia, a woman wearing a hajib is an easy target these days," said Zead Ramadan, president of the Council on American-Islamic Relations - New York. "Unfortunately, this turned ugly due to a lot of miscommunication."

Photos: Top: Police respond to Rye Playland on Tuesday (Norman Y. Lono for NY Daily News)

Bottom: 'It's clear, this all happened because we're Muslim,' says Dena Meawad. (Norman  Y. Lono for NY Daily News)

NYPD PROBE AP Investigative Stories Informant: NYPD paid me to 'bait' Muslims

NEW YORK — A paid informant for the New York Police Department's intelligence unit was under orders to "bait" Muslims into saying inflammatory things as he lived a double life, snapping pictures inside mosques and collecting the names of innocent people attending study groups on Islam, he told The Associated Press. 

Shamiur Rahman, a 19-year-old American of Bangladeshi descent who has now denounced his work as an informant, said police told him to embrace a strategy called "create and capture." He said it involved creating a conversation about jihad or terrorism, then capturing the response to send to the NYPD. For his work, he earned as much as $1,000 a month and goodwill from the police after a string of minor marijuana arrests. 

"We need you to pretend to be one of them," Rahman recalled the police telling him. "It's street theater." 

Rahman said he now believes his work as an informant against Muslims in New York was "detrimental to the Constitution." After he disclosed to friends details about his work for the police — and after he told the police that he had been contacted by the AP — he stopped receiving text messages from his NYPD handler, "Steve," and his handler's NYPD phone number was disconnected. 

Rahman's account shows how the NYPD unleashed informants on Muslim neighborhoods, often without specific targets or criminal leads. Much of what Rahman said represents a tactic the NYPD has denied using. 

The AP corroborated Rahman's account through arrest records and weeks of text messages between Rahman and his police handler. The AP also reviewed the photos Rahman sent to police. Friends confirmed Rahman was at certain events when he said he was there, and former NYPD officials, while not personally familiar with Rahman, said the tactics he described were used by informants. 

Informants like Rahman are a central component of the NYPD's wide-ranging programs to monitor life in Muslim neighborhoods since the 2001 terrorist attacks. Police officers have eavesdropped inside Muslim businesses, trained video cameras on mosques and collected license plates of worshippers. Informants who trawl the mosques — known informally as "mosque crawlers" — tell police what the imam says at sermons and provide police lists of attendees, even when there's no evidence they committed a crime. 

The programs were built with unprecedented help from the CIA. 

Police recruited Rahman in late January, after his third arrest on misdemeanor drug charges, which Rahman believed would lead to serious legal consequences. An NYPD plainclothes officer approached him in a Queens jail and asked whether he wanted to turn his life around. 

The next month, Rahman said, he was on the NYPD's payroll. 

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne did not immediately return a message seeking comment on Tuesday. He has denied widespread NYPD spying, saying police only follow leads. 

In an Oct. 15 interview with the AP, however, Rahman said he received little training and spied on "everything and anyone." He took pictures inside the many mosques he visited and eavesdropped on imams. By his own measure, he said he was very good at his job and his handler never once told him he was collecting too much, no matter whom he was spying on. 

Rahman said he thought he was doing important work protecting New York City and considered himself a hero. 

One of his earliest assignments was to spy on a lecture at the Muslim Student Association at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan. The speaker was Ali Abdul Karim, the head of security at the Masjid At-Taqwa mosque in Brooklyn. The NYPD had been concerned about Karim for years and already had infiltrated the mosque, according to NYPD documents obtained by the AP. 

Rahman also was instructed to monitor the student group itself, though he wasn't told to target anyone specifically. His NYPD handler, Steve, told him to take pictures of people at the events, determine who belonged to the student association and identify its leadership. 

On Feb. 23, Rahman attended the event with Karim and listened, ready to catch what he called a "speaker's gaffe." The NYPD was interested in buzz words such as "jihad" and "revolution," he said. Any radical rhetoric, the NYPD told him, needed to be reported. 

John Jay president Jeremy Travis said Tuesday that police had not told the school about the surveillance. He did not say whether he believed the tactic was appropriate. 

"As an academic institution, we are committed to the free expression of ideas and to creating a safe learning environment for all of our students," he said in a written statement. "We are working closely with our Muslim students to affirm their rights and to reassure them that we support their organization and freedom to assemble." 

Talha Shahbaz, then the vice president of the student group, met Rahman at the event. As Karim was finishing his talk on Malcolm X's legacy, Rahman told Shahbaz that he wanted to know more about the student group. They had briefly attended the same high school in Queens. 

Rahman said he wanted to turn his life around and stop using drugs, and said he believed Islam could provide a purpose in life. In the following days, Rahman friended him on Facebook and the two exchanged phone numbers. Shahbaz, a Pakistani who came to the U.S. more three years ago, introduced Rahman to other Muslims. 

"He was telling us how he loved Islam and it's changing him," said Asad Dandia, who also became friends with Rahman. 

Secretly, Rahman was mining his new friends for details about their lives, taking pictures of them when they ate at restaurants and writing down license plates on the orders of the NYPD. 

On the NYPD's instructions, he went to more events at John Jay, including when Siraj Wahhaj spoke in May. Wahhaj, 62, is a prominent but controversial New York imam who has attracted the attention of authorities for years. Prosecutors included his name on a 3 ½-page list of people they said "may be alleged as co-conspirators" in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, though he was never charged. In 2004, the NYPD placed Wahhaj on an internal terrorism watch list and noted: "Political ideology moderately radical and anti-American." 

That evening at John Jay, a friend took a photograph of Wahhaj with a grinning Rahman. 

Rahman said he kept an eye on the MSA and used Shahbaz and his friends to facilitate traveling to events organized by the Islamic Circle of North America and Muslim American Society. The society's annual convention in Hartford, Connecticut, draws a large number of Muslims and plenty of attention from the NYPD. According to NYPD documents obtained by the AP, the NYPD sent three informants there in 2008 and was keeping tabs on the group's former president. 

Rahman was told to spy on the speakers and collect information. The conference was dubbed "Defending Religious Freedom." Shahbaz paid Rahman's travel expenses. 

Rahman, who was born in Queens, said he never witnessed any criminal activity or saw anybody do anything wrong. 

He said he sometimes intentionally misinterpreted what people had said. For example, Rahman said he would ask people what they thought about the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya, knowing the subject was inflammatory. It was easy to take statements out of context, he said. He said wanted to please his NYPD handler, whom he trusted and liked. 

"I was trying to get money," Rahman said. "I was playing the game." 

Rahman said police never discussed the activities of the people he was assigned to target for spying. He said police told him once, "We don't think they're doing anything wrong. We just need to be sure." 

On some days, Rahman's spent hours and covered miles (kilometers) in his undercover role. On Sept. 16, for example, he made his way in the morning to the Al Farooq Mosque in Brooklyn, snapping photographs of an imam and the sign-up sheet for those attending a regular class on Islamic instruction. He also provided their cell phone numbers to the NYPD. That evening he spied on people at Masjid Al-Ansar, also in Brooklyn. 

Text messages on his phone showed that Rahman also took pictures last month of people attending the 27th annual Muslim Day Parade in Manhattan. The parade's grand marshal was New York City Councilman Robert Jackson. 

Rahman said he eventually tired of spying on his friends, noting that at times they delivered food to needy Muslim families. He said he once identified another NYPD informant spying on him. He took $200 more from the NYPD and told them he was done as an informant. He said the NYPD offered him more money, which he declined. He told friends on Facebook in early October that he had been a police spy but had quit. He also traded Facebook messages with Shahbaz, admitting he had spied on students at John Jay. 

"I was an informant for the NYPD, for a little while, to investigate terrorism," he wrote on Oct. 2. He said he no longer thought it was right. Perhaps he had been hunting terrorists, he said, "but I doubt it." 

Shahbaz said he forgave Rahman. 

Woman charged in New York City subway killing

The killing is the second such fatality this month for one of the world's busiest transit systems [GALLO/GETTY]

A woman suspected of shoving a man to his death in front of an oncoming New York subway train has been arrested and charged with "second-degree murder as a hate crime" in the second such fatality in the city. The district attorney for the New York City borough of Queens said Erika Menendez, 31, who was seen pacing the subway platform and muttering to herself before the attack, told investigators that she pushed the victim, Sunando Sen, 46, on Thursday because "I hate Hindus and Muslims". Menendez was taken into custody in Brooklyn by authorities acting on a tip from someone who recognised the suspect from video of the incident that was aired on television, a spokeswoman for the district attorney told Reuters news agency. "The defendant is accused of committing what is every subway commuter's worst nightmare - being suddenly and senselessly pushed into the path of an oncoming train," District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement. "Beyond that, the hateful remarks allegedly made by the defendant and which precipitated the defendant's actions can never be tolerated in a civilised society," he said. Hate crime The prosecutor's statement quoted Menendez as telling investigators: "I pushed a Muslim off the train tracks because I hate Hindus and Muslims ever since 2001 when they put down the twin towers, I've been beating them up." Brown's statement gave no indication of the victim's ethnicity or religion or Menendez might have taken Sen to be a Muslim. Menendez is awaiting arraignment in Queens Criminal Court on a criminal complaint charging her with second-degree murder as a hate crime, an offense that carries a minimum sentence of 20 years to life in prison. The minimum penalty for second-degree murder alone is 15 years to life, Campbell said. If convicted, Menendez could face a maximum penalty of 25 years to life. Witnesses told police a woman appeared to be mumbling and pacing on Thursday evening before she approached an unsuspecting man from behind on the platform of an elevated station in the borough of Queens. She then shoved him onto the subway track as the train pulled into the station, witnesses said. Brown said Sen died of multiple blunt-force trauma. After shoving Sen, the suspect ran from the station to the street in a scene caught on surveillance video footage that police released on Friday as they searched for her. Sen's death was the second this month of a New York subway rider pushed onto the tracks of the city's more than 100-year-old subway system. On December 3, Ki-Suck Han was killed after being shoved onto subway tracks in Manhattan as a train entered a station near Times Square. A suspect, Naeem Davis, has been charged with second-degree murder. Authorities have not disclosed a possible motive.

Activist arrested in New York for defacing anti-Muslim poster

Mona Eltahawy, who was arrested for defacing the poster on the New York subway. Photograph: Dan Callister

Mona Eltahawy, the prominent Egyptian-American writer and activist, has been arrested in New York after spraying paint over a controversial poster on the subway that has been condemned for equating Muslims with "savages".

The posters were put up in the city by the anti-Muslim American Freedom Defense Initiative, led by Pam Geller. They were approved by a US court, which ruled that they were "political" statements and protected by the first amendment, which guarantees free speech.

The poster states: "In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man." Between two Stars of DEltahawy was arrested after a supporter of Geller's initiative attempted to prevent her defacing the sign with a purple aerosol.

The posters are now displayed in 10 New York stations – including Grand Central and Times Square – after a court ruled that the local transport authority could not refuse the ads.

In a video posted online of the incident by the New York Post, Mona Eltahawy can be seen attempting to paint over the poster before she is tackled by a woman with a camera, who is identified as Pamela Hall.

"Mona, do you think you have the right to do this?" Eltahawy is asked. "I do actually," Eltahawy replies, adding: "I think this is freedom of expression, just as [the ad] is freedom of expression."

As the scuffle continues two police officers appear to then arrest Eltahawy, who says: "This is what happens in America when you non-violently protest."

Eltahawy, who has written for this paper, was later charged with "criminal mischief" and "graffiti".

During the Arab spring, Eltahawy was arrested in Cairo and suffered an assault by riot police which left her with two broken arms.

The Metropolitan Transport Authority (MTA) had originally ruled it would not permit the posters because they were demeaning, but was compelled to take the $6,000 (£3,700) ad after Geller's group went to court.

Last month US district court judge Paul Engelmayer ruled that it is protected speech under the first amendment.

"Our hands are tied," New York subway spokesman Aaron Donovan said. "Under our existing ad standards as modified by the injunction, the MTA is required to run the ad."

The posters have attracted widespread condemnation including from Jewish figures. Among those who have spoken out against them is Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster, of Rabbis for Human Rights — North America, who wrote for CNN online: "As a rabbi, I find the ads deeply misguided and disturbing … The coded message makes clear who the savages are: those who support jihad, which in Geller's mind includes all Muslims. She has called Islam 'an extreme ideology, the most radical and extreme ideology on the face of the Earth'.

"As a Jew, I know the extreme to which baseless hatred can lead. And the Jewish community has been in the past a target of hatred in the United States. Geller's message ignores the positive contributions that our Muslim friends, neighbours and colleagues make to our country every single day.

"It is also unfortunate that Geller chooses to frame her message of hatred as one of support for Israel."

As head of a group called Stop Islamization of America, Geller, a rightwing blogger, helped spur a long campaign two years ago to remove a planned Islamic community centre near the World Trade Centre site, which she called the "Ground Zero Mosque".

Geller's group has also placed posters in other stations north of New York City that read: "It's not Islamophobia, it's Islamorealism."avid, it adds: "Support Israel. Defeat Jihad."

Journalist arrested for defacing anti-Muslim ad in NYC subway

An Egyptian-American activist was arrested by the NYPD on Tuesday and charged with criminal mischief and graffiti for spray-painting an advertisement in a New York subway station that had been viewed as hateful to Muslims.

Mona Eltahawy, 45, was detained by officers with the New York Police Department and held overnight after her attempts to cover-up an anti-Islamic advert in a Manhattan subway station yielded a minor scuffle with a woman who insisted on shielding the poster with her own body.

On Monday, ten advertisements went up across New York City that were paid for by the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), a group spearheaded by Pamela Geller, a 54-year-old activist and author who co-founded the Stop Islamization of America organization and has been chastised by both the pro-Israel Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The posters all read "In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad." Authorities in New York first rejected Geller’s purchasing of ad space, but were forced in court to let her have her way on the basis of freedom of speech protections.

Eltahawy tweeted on Tuesday that she had purchased a can of pink spray paint and followed up by writing, “Fuck Pam Geller and her band of haters.”

“I believe in the right to offend & the right to protest that offense peacefully. And I will call you a racist & bigoted shit as I protest,” she added.

Eltahawy tweeted Tuesday afternoon that it was “pink spray paint time,” then disappeared off Twitter for several hours, only for a post to be published later in the evening acknowledging that she had been charged with a misdemeanor.

Video (YouTube) has since surfaced of the incident, which begins with Eltahawy attempting to cover up Geller’s poster with spray paint until she is quickly approached by a woman holding a camera

“Mona, you think you have a right to do this?” a woman identified as Pamela Hall asks Eltahawy.

"I do actually. I think this is freedom of expression, just as this is freedom of expression,” Eltahawy responds, all the while continuing her attempts to cover-up the poster.

The two women continue to argue, with their altercation pinnacling with Hall hugging the poster with her body, a maneuver that Eltahawy countered by discharging her spray paint can still.

“Defend racism,” Eltahawy tells her. “Put your body between me and racism.”

The incident goes on for several minutes until a NYPD officer approaches Eltahawy and arrests her. Despite asking repeatedly for the cop to explain what crimes she is being charged with, Eltahawy is handcuffed and hauled off without ever being told.

“This is non-violent protest,” Eltahawy says in the clip. “You see this America? This is non-violent protest. This is what happens to non-violent protesters in America in 2012.”

The cops explain that Eltahawy could have injured the woman if the spray-paint ended up in her eye.

Robin Morgan, an Award-winning writer, activist and journalist, tweeted early Tuesday that the NYPD was “very sympathetic” and acknowledges that the city attempted to prevent the posters from being hung, so much so that the case ended up in court.

On a blog maintained by Geller, a post made on Tuesday identified Eltahawy as an “Islamic supremacist journalist”and says her arrest was a result of “assaulting a defender of freedom.”

“This again proves the Islamic supremacists and the Leftist thugs are dedicated to shutting down free speech,” the post reads. “Anti-Israel ads ran all over the country without a murmur of protest; but this pro-Israel ad was hardly up an hour before fascist thugs like Eltahawy went to work to deface it.”

A well known Egyptian-American journalist, Eltahawy has previously reported for both Reuters and the Guardian, and also appeared frequently as a guest on RT. Much of her work has been dedicated to defending minorities’ rights. Now she will have to defend herself in a New York court.

Anti-Islamic advertisements to hit NYC

Anti-Islamic advertisements will go up across New York City’s subway system next week after a federal judge ruled that the city’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority could not legally refuse to host the signs on the basis of "demeaning" language.

As early as next Monday, ten NYC subway stations will showcase adverts declaring, "In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad." The campaign was created by the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), an organization considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center watch group.

Pamela Geller, the executive director of the AFDI, stands by her signage despite rampant complaints circulating before the campaign has even begun.

"I will not abridge my freedoms so as not to offend savages,” Geller tells Sky News.

This ad set to appear in New York subway stations next week

Geller has long advocated against so-called "Islamist propaganda" in America and has campaigned in the past to call for the shutting down of a Washington, DC museum exhibit that highlighted Muslim contributions to science. The installation was declared "Best Touring Exhibit" by the Museum Heritage Awards in 2011, but Geller claimed "It has indoctrinated hundreds of thousands of children into a rosy and romanticized view of Islam that makes them less appreciative of their own culture’s achievements and more complacent about Islamization in the West.”

For her overt actions waged against Islamic culture, the pro-Israel Anti-Defamation League has said Geller "fuels and fosters anti-Muslim bigotry in society."

Those ideals will be brought to New York subway stations next week despite a legal battle that ended in July with a Manhattan federal judge agreeing that the First Amendment allowed Geller to have her ads run in the metro system.

"I live in America and in America we have the first amendment,” Geller tells Sky News.

Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American Islamic Relations, responded to the outlet by condemning Geller’s actions, but agreeing with the federal judge’s decision regardless.

"Our basic position is that the first amendment means that everyone is free to be a bigot or even an idiot like Pamela Geller,” Hooper tells Sky. "We wish she wasn't provoking and inciting hatred, but in America that's her right."

"We encourage Muslims to exercise the same right to publicly denounce such adverts. The real danger is the spread of hatred in our society, which can lead to attacks on innocent people."

On the website for the AFDI, Geller critiques a journalist who has labeled her efforts as anti-Muslim, insisting that such a label “implies that every Muslim is a jihadi who wants to impose sharia and ‘eliminate and destroy Western civilization from within and sabotage its miserable house.’”

Defending her advertisements to KQED News last month, Geller said it was right to refer to Islamic worshipers as “savage,” because “any targeting of innocent civilians is savagery.”

“Mothers and children on a bus are targeted, and that is savagery. Kidnapping and murdering is savagery. The U.S. does not conduct war that way, and neither does Israel. Now, there is sometimes the accidental death of civilians, which is far different than the targeting of innocent civilians," she said.

Previously, Geller told Huffington Post of her ads, “If I had my way, they'd be in every city in the United States of America and if I can get the funding, that's exactly what's going to happen.”

She has successfully campaigned to have the adverts included in San Francisco and is all but certain to expand to New York in the coming days. In California, San Francisco’s transit authority promised to donate the $3,400 Geller spent on advertising fees to the Human Rights Commission.

‘Choose love’: Pro-Muslim ads to appear in NYC subways

After anti-Muslim ads hit NYC subways last month, Jewish and Christian groups respond with a message of love – hanging pro-Muslim posters to condemn intolerance and celebrate the city’s diversity.

Rabbis for Human Rights – North America and the Sojourners Christian group will place their adverts right next to theanti-jihad messages that were released by pro-Israel group, the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI).The organization covered 10 Manhattan stations, despite strong objection by the city’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The original text by the AFDI declared "In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad."

The ad by Rabbis for Human Rights- North America will say “In the choice between love and hate, choose love. Help stop bigotry against our Muslim neighbors.”

“Love your Muslim neighbors,” is the message on the Sojourners’ ad.

“Our subway platforms and buses should not be the platform for messages of hate that divide friends, neighbors, and colleagues,” read a message on the Rabbis for Human Rights – North America’s website.

Last week the United Methodist Women Church unveiled its response to the AFDI posters with an ad saying “Hate speech is not civilized. Support peace in word and deed.”

“We needed to be present with a counter voice, we need to stand for the work of peace, and to say that free speech should not be used recklessly or in an inflammatory way,” United Methodist Women General Secretary, Harriett J. Olson, said during an interfaith press conference on Sept. 25th.

Rabbis for Human Rights – North America has also called on New Yorkers to publicly condemn the executive director of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, Pamela Geller, for putting up the inflammatory anti-Muslim ads.

“These disturbing and misguided ads are not meant to educate; they are meant to increase hatred and discrimination against New York City’s Muslims, and to drive a wedge between Muslims and Jews. The subway ads demonize Islam and ignore the positive contributions that our Muslim friends, neighbors and colleagues make to our country every day,” says a petition on its website.

The anti-jihad ads went up in the subways late last month after a federal judge ruled that the city’s transportation authorities could not legally refuse to host the signs on the basis of "demeaning" language. The ads were apparently inspired by the violent protests that have engulfed the Muslim world over an American-produced amateur film ridiculing Prophet Muhammad.

The AFDI is considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center watch group.

Geller has long advocated against so-called "Islamist propaganda" in America and has campaigned in the past to call for the shutting down of a Washington DC museum exhibit, that highlighted Muslim contributions to science. The installation was declared "Best Touring Exhibit" by the Museum Heritage Awards in 2011, but Geller claimed "It has indoctrinated hundreds of thousands of children into a rosy and romanticized view of Islam that makes them less appreciative of their own culture’s achievements and more complacent about Islamization in the West.”

Talking with and looking at a women for marriage

If a man wants to propose marriage to a woman, it is permissible for him to speak with her and look at her without being alone.

Islam commands us to lower our gaze and forbids looking at non-mahram women. This is in order to purify people’s souls and protect their honor. There are, however, certain exceptions in which it is permissible to look at a non-mahram woman for reasons of necessity, one of which is in the case of proposing marriage, because it is the basis on which a very important decision affecting a person’s life will be taken.

If a man wants to propose marriage to a woman, it is permissible for him to speak with her and look at her without being alone. It should be done from a distance and in the presence of her father, brother or mother etc. But if he does not want to propose marriage to her, then he has no right to do that. So long as he wants to marry her.

Al-Zayla’i said:

“It is not permissible for him to touch her face or hands even if is sure that this will not provoke desire because she is still haraam for him, and there is no need for him to do so.” In Durar al-Bihaar it says: “It is not permitted for the qaadi, the witnesses or the fiancé to touch her, even if they are sure that this will not provoke desire, because there is no need for that…”  (Radd al-Muhtaar ‘ala’l-Durr al-Mukhtaar, 5/237)

Ibn Qudaamah said:

“It is not permitted for him to be alone with her, because she is forbidden and Islam only allows him to look, thus khulwah (being alone with her) remains forbidden, and because there is no certainty that nothing forbidden will take place if he is alone with her, as the Prophet (pbuh) said: ‘No man is alone with a woman, but the Shaytaan is the third one present.’ He should not look at her in a lustful or suspicious manner. Ahmad said, in a report narrated by Saalih, ‘He may look at the face, but not in a lustful manner.’ He may look repeatedly, and examine her beauty, because the aim cannot be achieved in any other way.”

When a man came to the Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) to ask his opinion, he said:

“Have you looked at her?” He said: No. He said: “Go and look at her.” And he said: “When one of you proposes marriage to a woman, if he can look at that which will encourage him to go ahead and marry her, let him do so.” Narrated by Abu Dawood (1783).

It was narrated from al-Mugheerah ibn Shu’bah (R.A) that he proposed marriage to a woman, and the Prophet  (pbuh) said:

“Look at her, for that will help bring your hearts together.” Narrated by al-Tirmidhi (1087); he said: this is a hasan hadeeth.

From Jaabir ibn ‘Abd-Allaah(R.A):

“Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) said: If one of you proposes marriage to a woman, if he can look at her to see that which will encourage him to go ahead and marry her, then let him do so.’ I proposed marriage to a young woman, and I used to hide where I could see her, until I saw that which encouraged me to go ahead and marry her, so I did so.’”  According to another report he said, ‘a young woman of Bani Salamah. I used to hide from her, until I saw that which encouraged me to go ahead and marry her, so I did so.” (Saheeh Abi Dawood, no. 1832, 1834)

Narrated by Abu Hurayrah (R.A):

“I was with the Prophet (pbuh) when a man came and told him that he had married a woman of the Ansaar. The Prophet (pbuh) said to him, ‘Have you seen her?’ He said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘Go and look at  her, for there is something in the eyes of the Ansaar.” (Reported by Muslim, no. 1424; and by  al-Daaraqutni, 3/253 (34))

Narrated by al-Mugheerah ibn Shu’bah (R.A):

“I proposed marriage to a woman, and the Prophet (pbuh) said: ‘Have you seen her?’ I said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘Look at her,  because it is more fitting that love and compatibility be established between you.’” According to another report: “So he did that, and he married her and mentioned that they got along.” (Reported by al-Daaraqutni,  3/252 (31, 32); Ibn Maajah, 1/574)

From Sahl ibn Sa’d (R.A):

“A woman came to the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) and said: “O Messenger of Allah, I have come to give myself to you (in marriage).” Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) looked at her closely, then he lowered his head. When the woman saw that he had not made a decision about her, she sat down. One of his Companions stood up and said, O Messenger of Allah, if you do not want her, then marry her to me…’” (Reported by al-Bukhaari, 7/19; Muslim, 4/143; al-Nisaa’i, 6/113 bi Sharh al-Suyooti;  al-Bayhaqi, 7/84)

Some sayings of the scholars:

Al-Shaafa’i (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

“If he wants to marry a woman, he is not allowed to see her without a headcover. He may look at her face and hands when she is covered, with or without her permission. Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): ‘… and not to show off their adornment except only that which is apparent…’ [al-Noor 24:31]. He said: ‘The face and hands.’” (al-Haawi al-Kabeer, 9/34).

Imaam al-Nawawi said in Rawdat al-Taalibeen wa ‘Umdat al-Mufteen (7, 19-20):

“When (a man) wants to marry (a woman), it is preferable (mustahabb) for him to look at her so that he will have no regrets.

Abu Haneefah permitted looking at the feet as well as the face and hands. (Bidaayah al-Mujtahid wa  Nihayyat al-Muqtasid, 3/10)

“It is permissible to look at the face, hands and feet, and no more than that.” Ibn Rushd also quoted it as above.

Among the reports from the madhhab of Imaam Maalik:

He may look at the face and hands only. He may look at the face, hands and forearms only.

A number of reports were narrated from Imaam Ahmad (may Allaah have mercy on him), one of which says that he may look at the face and forearms.

From the above, it is clear that the majority of scholars say that a man is allowed to look at his fiancée’s face and hands, because the face indicates beauty or ugliness, and the hands indicate the slimness or plumpness (literally, ‘fertility’) of the body.

There is no dispute among the scholars that the man is permitted to look at the face and hands and talk from a distance and in the presence of her father, brother or mother etc.

Dress code for women in Islam

Islamic dress code for women

The Islam instructs both Muslim men and Women to dress in a modest way. For women clothing must cover the entire body, only the hands and face may remain visible (According to some Fiqh Schools).

Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“And tell the believing women to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things), and protect their private parts (from illegal sexual acts, etc.) and not to show off their adornment except only that which is apparent (like palms of hands or one eye or both eyes for necessity to see the way, or outer dress like veil, gloves, head-cover, apron, etc.), and to draw their veils all over Juyubihinna (i.e. their bodies, faces, necks and bosoms, etc.) and not to reveal their adornment except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband’s fathers, their sons, their husband’s sons, their brothers or their brother’s sons, or their sister’s sons, or their (Muslim) women (i.e. their sisters in Islâm), or the (female) slaves whom their right hands possess, or old male servants who lack vigor, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex. And let them not stamp their feet so as to reveal what they hide of their adornment. And all of you beg Allah to forgive you all, O believers, that you may be successful. ”[al-Noor 24:31]

Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“And as for women past child-bearing who do not expect wed-lock, it is no sin on them if they discard their (outer) clothing in such a way as not to show their adornment. But to refrain (i.e. not to discard their outer clothing) is better for them. And Allah is All-Hearer, All-Knower.” [al-Noor 24:60]

“Women past childbearing” are those who no longer menstruate, so they can no longer get pregnant or bear children.

Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (veils) all over their bodies (i.e. screen themselves completely except the eyes or one eye to see the way). That will be better, that they should be known (as free respectable women) so as not to be annoyed. And Allah is Ever Oft¬Forgiving, Most Merciful.” [al-Ahzaab 33:59]

Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“O you who believe! Enter not the Prophet’s houses, except when leave is given to you for a meal, (and then) not (so early as) to wait for its preparation. But when you are invited, enter, and when you have taken your meal, disperse, without sitting for a talk. Verily, such (behavior) annoys the Prophet, and he is shy of (asking) you (to go), but Allah is not shy of (telling you) the truth. And when you ask (his wives) for anything you want, asks them from behind a screen that is purer for your hearts and for their hearts. And it is not (right) for you that you should annoy Allah’s Messenger, nor that you should ever marry his wives after him (his death). Verily! With Allah that shall be an enormity.” [al-Ahzaab 33:53]

Narrated by Safiyyah bint Shaybah (R.A) that ‘Aa’ishah (R.A) used to say: When these words were revealed – “and to draw their veils all over Juyoobihinna (i.e. their bodies, faces, necks and bosoms)” – they took their izaars (a kind of garment) and tore them from the edges and covered their faces with them. ( al-Bukhaari, 4481)

May Allah have mercy on the Muhaajir women. When Allaah revealed the words “and to draw their veils all over Juyoobihinna (i.e. their bodies, faces, necks and bosoms)”, they tore the thickest of their aprons (a kind of garment) and covered their faces with them. Abu Dawood (4102)

Narrated by ‘Aa’ishah (R.A) that the wives of the Prophet (pbuh) used to go out at night to al-Manaasi’ (well known places in the direction of al-Baqee’) to relieve themselves and ‘Umar used to say to the Prophet (pbuh), “Let your wives be veiled.” But the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) did not do that. Then one night Sawdah bint Zam’ah (R.A), the wife of the Prophet (pbuh), went out at ‘Isha’ time and she was a tall woman. ‘Umar called out to her: “We have recognized you, O Sawdah!” hoping that hijab would be revealed, then Allah revealed the verse of hijab.(al-Bukhaari, 146; Muslim, 2170.)

Narrated by Ibn Shihaab that Anas said: I am the most knowledgeable of people about hijab. Ubayy ibn Ka’b used to ask me about it. When the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) married Zaynab bint Jahsh (R.A), whom he married in Madeenah, he invited the people to a meal after the sun had risen. The Prophet (pbuh) sat down and some men sat around him after the people had left, until the Prophet (pbuh) stood up and walked a while, and I walked with him, until he reached the door of‘Aa’ishah’s(R.A) apartment. Then he thought that they had left so he went back and I went back with him, and they were still sitting there. He went back again, and I went with him, until he reached the door of ‘Aa’ishah’s (R.A) apartment, then he came back and I came back with him, and they had left. Then he drew a curtain between me and him, and the verse of hijab was revealed. (Al-Bukhaari, 5149; Muslim, 1428.)

Narrated by ‘Urwah (R.A) that ‘Aa’ishah (R.A) said: Prophet (pbuh) used to pray Fajr and the believing women would attend (the prayer) with him, wrapped in their aprons, then they would go back to their houses and no one would recognize them. (al-Bukhaari, 365; Muslim, 645.)

The material of Clothing must not be so thin that one can see through it and the clothing must hang loose so that the shape / form of the body is not apparent.